Barack Obama’s G-20 message discipline

CANNES, France — President Barack Obama spent most of his two days at the G-20 summit talking about Greece and the Euro crises — but his final focus was on the jobs crisis back home and possible domestic spillover from another global financial meltdown.

For Obama, who is still highly regarded on the continent, especially in France, this wasn’t the European global group hug of years past, designed to elevate the image of an enlightened American leader comfortable sharing, not dominating, the world stage. Instead, he used his global platform as one more vehicle to emphasize his resolute focus on the economic crisis back home.

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A year before Election Day 2012, Obama was pointedly parochial — to the point of his staff inserting an American flag in front of the massive azure G-20 backdrop of his closing-day press conference.

He took only four questions, all from U.S. journalists, none from international reporters who yelled, “Come on!” as he walked off the after stage 24 minutes.

The international press may have been clamoring for his views in European bank recapitalization and the fate of a proposed financial transactions backed by France — and he gave them — but Obama diverted the conversation back to Friday’s report of 80,000 jobs gained in October and his jobs bill.

“My hope is that the folks back home — including those in the United States Senate and House of Representatives — when they look at today’s job numbers, which were up but indicate once again that the economy is growing way too slow, that they think twice before they vote no again on a proposal that economists say would actually make a dent in unemployment,” Obama told reporters gathered in the Cannes convention center that plays host to the Riviera’s renowned film festival.

Obama seemed bemused by the byzantine matrix of European governing bodies and governmental organizations, saying that one European head of state — he couldn’t remember who — had quipped he was receiving a “crash course” in continental politics.

And while the president quietly pushed leaders to make concrete commitments to erect a firewall around Greece, European leaders told reporters it was unlikely that details of the euro rescue fund are imminent, and possibly could take as long as February to iron out.

Throughout the rain-soaked week in the Riviera, Obama’s aides reiterated, over and over, that the crisis was a “European problem.”

And the president himself took every opportunity to underscore how the Cannes conference — which snarled local traffic, shuttered local shops like the “Cafe Scoobiedou” and filled the festive resort with grim national police — was his chance to help keep Europe’s woes from stifling U.S. job creation.

“I’m worried about putting people back to work right now, because those folks are hurting and the U.S. economy is underperforming. And so everything that we’re doing here in the — here at the G20 mirrors our efforts back home — that is, how do we boost growth; how do we shrink our deficits in a way that doesn’t slow the recovery right now; how do we make sure that our workers are getting the skills and the training they need to compete in a global economy.”

Behind the scenes in France, however, U.S. officials were pressuring their Eurozone counterparts to quickly flesh out the details of a broad agreement to recapitalize the continent’s shaky banking sector and create a $1.4 trillion Euro firewall against future shocks from Greece, Italy or Spain.

On that account, the conference was a disappointment, even if administration officials predicted European leaders, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, would move slowly on implementation.

Like how some critize the President for what he is trying to do. But if he wasn't like many in the GOP they would be crying about he should be doing more. Also like how many at Lying Fox News put down the jobs number today. But what they don't tell their clueless viewers that this now makes 20 straight months of private sector jobs growth. That's private sector not public sector all with no help from the GOP who ran on jobs in 2010. Since this President stopped the free fall we were in that the Banks, Wall Street & the GOP put us in he has created 2.8 million new private sector jobs.

BTW the stimulus many cry about was something both parties wanted not just this President. But one party want's us to believe it was a failure. That would be the GOP the party of do-nothing.

Why is Politico not reporting Democrat ex-Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine's news of this week -- about how he has lately been CEO of a significant financial intermediary, which has gone bankrupt? This is a guy who has been joined at the hip with President Barack Hussein Obama. This is a guy who left New Jersey in a financially damaged, weakened, condition, who was voted out of office, despite Mr. Obama's best efforts to help him. Mr. Corzine has recently raised many millions of dollars for Mr. Obama's attempt to be reelected. Why is Politico being so quiet about this? Will ex-Gov. Corzine's money raised for Obama be returned to contributors? If not, why not? Or, will there be rumors of President Obama trying to put the fix in to help Mr. Corzine, for whom he pulled out all the stops, unsuccessfully, to get him reelected governor of New Jersey?

Performing not like the leader of the free world but like a local politician running for office. I EXPECTED MORE.

Local politician? well stone the crows!! here I am thinking that he was President of the United States. It is called focusing on the issues, definitely better than our friends in the lower house, with their enthusiasm for any topic of discussion but jobs.

I doubt that, you see, Europeans have class, some of them dislike their leaders but they have respect for the duties they perform. Unlike some stupid Americans who think rudeness and imbecility to the holder of the Presidency is a virtue.

Unlike some stupid Americans who think rudeness and imbecility to the holder of the Presidency is a virtue.

Yeah, Greece comes to mind. If you don't like freedom of speech, why not go back to whichever neo-socialist country you left? I love it when eurotrash come to America to make money, and then complain about the citizens exercising free speech.

Nineteen of 20 G20 leaders biting the bullet by cutting spending and reducing debt. The understand that Socialism doesn't work. Guess which one of the G20 leaders wants to keep spending and increasing debt???? Our LAME DUCK President hasn't a clue and the other 19 G20 leaders are amazed at how clueless he is!!

Nineteen of 20 G20 leaders biting the bullet by cutting spending and reducing debt. The understand that Socialism doesn't work. Guess which one of the G20 leaders wants to keep spending and increasing debt???? Our LAME DUCK President hasn't a clue and the other 19 G20 leaders are amazed at how clueless he is!!

Reminds me of the first G20 summit he attended. He was telling them that they should increase spending back then too, and they told him they were going to do the opposite. They did laughingly wish him luck with his ideas, though. BTW, it was at that same summit that he informed them that he would "cut the deficit he inherited in half by 2013." That would amount to about five trillion dollars, since the deficit was over 10 trillion dollars on January 19, 2009, according to the CBO.

He sure is running out of time, IMO. Perhaps he misread the teleprompter, and meant to say "Increase the deficit by half," because that is what really happened. Better get that teleprompter calibrated ASAP!